Chinese made stuff.

I've worked on lots of jobs where the customer has tried to save money by buying stuff from China only to have to chuck it out because the electrician refused to install it or the plumber couldn't figure out how to install it.

Couldn't they have paid a bit extra and have a Chinese plumber shipped over as well?
 
I deal with Chinese manufacturers on a daily basis. Basically if the customer specifies a requirement and holds them to it then you will get good quality product. But, but if you loosely specify requirements and don't hold them down/audit what they are doing they will strip it back to the cheapest and simplest it can be to make more cash out of it.

^^^This

Daughter is a buyer and she worked for a well known furniture outfit. She would regularly go out to visit factories in China, the varying climate conditions they worked in meant the product quality varied month by month (especially the painted stuff) and they would reject whole batches of containers which is a nightmare to plan your stock against and fulfil orders. They were shifting more of it to Vietnam as the climate there doesn’t have the same fluctuations.

I recently purchased a made to measure aluminium louvred pergola from Alibaba for quarter the price someone wanted to charge me from the UK (and it would probably still have been made in China). They did all the technical drawings and I had them adjust some stuff, couldn’t fault the attention to detail. Not put it up yet as waiting for a tree to be taken down so can’t comment on the quality but it looks decent enough….hope it’s all there
 
^^^This

Daughter is a buyer and she worked for a well known furniture outfit. She would regularly go out to visit factories in China, the varying climate conditions they worked in meant the product quality varied month by month (especially the painted stuff) and they would reject whole batches of containers which is a nightmare to plan your stock against and fulfil orders. They were shifting more of it to Vietnam as the climate there doesn’t have the same fluctuations.
Has to be DFS as their leather sofas are made in China. Ours was made in China and the quality seemed fair to middling but we sent it back as the recliners foam was crushed in transit.
 
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^^^This

Daughter is a buyer and she worked for a well known furniture outfit. She would regularly go out to visit factories in China, the varying climate conditions they worked in meant the product quality varied month by month (especially the painted stuff) and they would reject whole batches of containers which is a nightmare to plan your stock against and fulfil orders. They were shifting more of it to Vietnam as the climate there doesn’t have the same fluctuations.

I recently purchased a made to measure aluminium louvred pergola from Alibaba for quarter the price someone wanted to charge me from the UK (and it would probably still have been made in China). They did all the technical drawings and I had them adjust some stuff, couldn’t fault the attention to detail. Not put it up yet as waiting for a tree to be taken down so can’t comment on the quality but it looks decent enough….hope it’s all there
Haha. I was looking at importing RIBs ( rigid inflatable boats ) got my import licence, plenty of quotes, photos, tech diagrams etc etc and very nearly ordered 2 samples. The price of importation alone for just 2 was off the scale ( I know these firms need to fill a container to make it worth while ), import duty, shipping cost, freight forwarders cost, various taxes, VAT, they even wanted $200 just to pack them at their end.....those costs alone were a lot more than the boats themselves. I ordered one. It arrived several weeks later...it's not level FFS, the build quality is good but it doesn't sit right and for a boat that's not good, granted you have to look hard but that's not the point if I'm selling it on. I'm keeping it for myself as I'm not even thinking about the mither and subsequent costs etc etc of returning it let alone dealing with disgruntled customers.
 
Has to be DFS as their leather sofas are made in China. Ours was made in China and the quality seemed fair to middling but we sent it back as the back of the recliner was crushed in transit.

Was a company like Oak Furniture Land (but not them) - although they have more internet presence than shops. I think they all get the stuff made in China. She did tell me that on that Alibaba.com she’d see photos of their products from companies that never made them for them - they even rip each other’s products off
 
I deal with Chinese manufacturers on a daily basis. Basically if the customer specifies a requirement and holds them to it then you will get good quality product. But, but if you loosely specify requirements and don't hold them down/audit what they are doing they will strip it back to the cheapest and simplest it can be to make more cash out of it.
The textiles I sell are manufactured in China and as you say, it's all about holding them to a certain specification and quality
Half of our range is a traditional Scottish brand and is marketed at tourists
The Chinese love the stuff. They buy it by the tonne and take it back to the far East
If only they knew!
 

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